1891–92 in English football

The 1891-92 season was the 21st season of competitive football in England.

Events

Three new clubs joined the Football Alliance, following the expansion of the Football League to 14 teams, and the defection of Sunderland Albion to the Northern League. These new teams were Ardwick (later Manchester City), Burton Swifts and Lincoln City.

National team

In the 1892 British Home Championship, for the third (and final) time England played matches against Wales and Ireland on the same day, March 5 1892, winning both by a 2-0 margin.

Wales

For the Welsh game, England selected a team consisting mainly of players with Corinthians connections and awarded eight new caps. The new caps included professionals George Toone of Notts County in goal, Henry Lilley of Sheffield United (making his only England appearance at left-back) and George Kinsey (Wolverhampton Wanderers) at left-half. Joe Schofield a Staffordshire schoolteacher with Stoke City played at outside-left. The other débutantes were Anthony Hossack (Corinthians), William Winckworth (Old Westminsters), Robert Cunliffe Gosling (Old Etonians) and Rupert Sandilands (Old Westminsters). England were a little too skilful for the Welsh and ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Arthur Henfrey and Rupert Sandilands.

Ireland

Against Ireland, England issued a further five new caps. The most prominent débutante was Charlie Athersmith of Aston Villa at outside-right, who would continue to appear for England over the next eight years, making twelve appearances in all. He was accompanied by his club team-mate, John Devey. The other new caps were John Cox of Derby County, Michael Whitham of Sheffield United and John Pearson of Crewe Alexandra for each of whom this was their solitary England appearance. Pearson went on to have a successful career as a Football League referee and refereed the 1911 FA Cup Final. Harry Daft of Notts County was awarded the captaincy for his last of five England appearances and marked the occasion by scoring twice, either side of half-time.

Scotland

Scotland also beat both Wales and Ireland and, as a result, the outcome of the British Home Championship rested on the final game of the season (for the third consecutive year). England selected a much more experienced team than for the Wales and Ireland games, and only included four players who had featured in those games, including only one of the debutantes, George Toone in goal. Jack Reynolds, the West Bromwich Albion full-back, was selected to play for England for the first time, even though he had previously played five international games for Ireland, having scored against England on 15 March 1890. It had wrongly been assumed that Reynolds was born in Ireland; however, his birth certificate had proved that he was in fact born in Blackburn, thereby enabling him to make eight appearances for England. England rattled in four goals in the first 21 minutes, and although Scotland scored a late consolation goal, England were able to continue their excellent run of results against the Scots and claim the championship again.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score*	Comp	England scorers
March 5 1892	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham (A)	Wales	2-0	BHC	Arthur Henfrey (Corinthians) (15 mins) & Rupert Sandilands (Old Westminsters) (87 mins)
March 5 1892	Solitude, Belfast (A)	Ireland	2-0	BHC	Harry Daft (Notts County) (44 & 47 mins)
April 2 1892	Ibrox Park, Glasgow (A)	Scotland	4-1	BHC	Edgar Chadwick (Everton) (1 min), John Goodall (Derby County) (14 & 21 mins) & Jack Southworth (Blackburn Rovers) (16 mins)

* England score given first

Key

• A = Home match
• BHC = British Home Championship

Honours

Competition	Winner
The Football League	Sunderland
FA Cup	West Bromwich Albion
Football Alliance	Nottingham Forest
Home Championship	England

League tables

The Football League

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GA	Pts
1	Sunderland	26	21	0	5	93	36	2.583	42
2	Preston North End	26	18	1	7	61	31	1.968	37
3	Bolton Wanderers	26	17	2	7	51	37	1.378	36
4	Aston Villa	26	15	0	11	89	56	1.589	30
5	Everton	26	12	4	10	49	49	1.000	28
6	Wolverhampton Wanderers	26	11	4	11	59	46	1.283	26
7	Burnley	26	11	4	11	49	45	1.089	26
8	Notts County	26	11	4	11	55	51	1.078	26
9	Blackburn Rovers	26	10	6	10	58	65	0.892	26
10	Derby County	26	10	4	12	46	52	0.885	24
11	Accrington	26	8	4	14	40	78	0.513	20
12	West Bromwich Albion	26	6	6	14	51	58	0.879	18
13	Stoke	26	5	4	17	38	61	0.623	14
14	Darwen	26	4	3	19	38	112	0.339	11

The Football Alliance

		P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1	Nottingham Forest	22	14	5	3	59	22	33
2	Newton Heath	22	12	7	3	69	33	31
3	Small Heath	22	12	5	5	53	36	29
4	The Wednesday	22	12	4	6	65	35	28
5	Burton Swifts	22	12	2	8	54	52	26
6	Grimsby Town	22	6	6	10	40	39	18
7	Crewe Alexandra	22	7	4	11	44	49	18
8	Ardwick	22	6	6	10	39	51	18
9	Bootle	22	8	2	12	42	64	18
10	Lincoln City	22	6	5	11	37	65	17
11	Walsall Town Swifts	22	6	3	13	33	59	15
12	Birmingham St George's	22	5	3	14	34	64	11

P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GA = Goal average; Pts = Points

References

• Details of Wales v England game
• Details of Ireland v England game
• Details of Scotland v England game
• British Home Championship results on RSSF